Message from the President ~ June 2017

Happy 40th Anniversary!

In 1976 a group of visionary German-Americans came together under the leadership of Pastor Hans Haug to form an organization that would recognize and honor the positive economic, political, scientific, social and cultural contributions Americans of German-speaking ancestry have made to the United States.

The organization was then formally established in 1977, and is now known in all fifty states and in Europe as the German-American Heritage Foundation of the USA® (GAHF). In March 2010, we opened our museum in the old German quarter of Washington, DC in a building named after the prominent merchant who built it – Hockemeyer Hall.

Today, Hockemeyer Hall is a hive of activity where the culture of German-speakers is cultivated and shared with the rising generation.

I am very pleased to announce the appointment of Dorris Keeven-Franke, of St. Charles, Missouri to chair a key program of our 40th anniversary year, the German-American Heritage Survey. Through this initiative, historic landmarks, organizations, and other sites of interest to German Americans throughout the United States will be identified as a first step toward preserving this heritage for future generations.

Keeven-Franke worked closely with the Missouri Humanities Council beginning in April 2015 on the Missouri German Heritage Corridor, gathering a database of important sites that record the westward settlement of German-speaking Americans. Keeven-Franke will bring those same skills to lead a large team to compile a nationwide survey of all things German across the United States, modeled on the Missouri Humanities German Heritage Corridor designated by Missouri Governor Jay Nixon on July 1, 2016.

More information and ways to volunteer will be posted at https://gahmusa.org/ and https://germanamericanheritagesurvey.com/.

Sincerely,

J. Marc Wheat

President